Notifications on your PC and smartphone can help you keep up to date with the latest happenings at work and among your friends. However, they can also be very annoying, as they can hamper your workflow by repeatedly reappearing at the most inopportune times. So today we show you how to change notification settings so that you can mute, block, turn off, or permanently disable notifications on your Windows 10 computer.
Turn off notifications on your Windows 10 computer
Although notification pop-ups on your computer can be a major annoyance, the good news is that you can turn them off in Windows 10 with just a few simple steps. Here, we’ll show you how to change notification settings in Windows 10 so you can focus on your work without unnecessary distractions. We’ll also show you how to selectively allow notifications from a particular app while blocking all others. So, without further ado, let’s see how to mute, block, turn off or turn off notifications on your Windows 10 computer.
Turn off all notifications on your computer
You can mute, block, mute, or bulk disable all notifications on your Windows 10 computer. Here’s how:
- Access Windows Settings by pressing Windows key + I simultaneously on your keyboard. Now click/tap on “System”.
- Next, select “Notifications and actions” from the left pane and turn off the toggle for “Receive notifications from apps and other senders”.
- Now scroll down and individually uncheck the remaining notification options, including “Show me the Windows welcome experience…”, “Suggest ways…” and “Get advice…”, etc.
Allow notifications from critical apps
The above actions will mute, disable, block or turn off notifications from all apps on your Windows 10 PC. However, you may need to allow notifications for your alarms to work as expected on your computer. You may also want to whitelist one or two apps while blocking the rest. Here’s how:
- Keep the main notification toggle to “On”. Now scroll down to “Receive notifications from these senders” and turn off the toggles for the apps you don’t want to receive notifications from. In my case, I disabled notifications for all apps except Signal Messenger.
Disable/temporarily disable notifications via “Focus Assist”
Windows 10 also comes with “Focus Assist Settings” to reduce distractions while working or playing video games. This will allow you to temporarily disable notifications without completely disabling them. Here’s how:
- Go to “Settings > System” as described in the very first step of this tutorial. Now click/tap on “Focus Assist” in the left pane, then click on “Customize your priority list” on the right.
- Here you can specify exactly which notifications you want to see from which people and which apps.
To note: Focus Assist’s default setting is “Off”, which means you receive notifications from all apps and services. You can select “Priority only” to see only notifications from the priority list, or “Alarms only” to hide all notifications except alarms..
- You can also scroll down the previous page to create your own automatic rules. For example, you can hide notifications at certain times of the day, when playing games, or when running an app in full-screen mode (like watching videos, streaming movies, etc.).
Disable lock screen notifications
Windows 10 even allows some apps to show notifications on the lock screen. While this might be useful for some users, the vast majority of us find it annoying. To turn off, turn off, block or turn off lock screen notifications, follow the guide below:
- Go to Settings (Windows key + I) and select “Personalization”.
- In the left pane, click/tap “Lock screen”. Next, click the icon under “Choose an app to show detailed status on the lock screen”.
- Select “None” from the pop-up options to ensure that no apps show detailed notifications on the lock screen.
- Now focus your attention on “Choose apps that show quick status on lock screen”. To remove an app from this list, click its icon here, then select “None”. Repeat for all other apps if you don’t want any notifications on the Windows 10 lock screen.
Ignore Action Center Notifications
Notifications stack on top of each other in the action center could be a big headache. However, you can handle this easily, as described below:
- Click the Action Center icon in the lower right corner of the Windows taskbar.
- On the sliding panel, click the “X” button that appears in the upper right corner of the notification tile when you hover your mouse cursor over it.
Disable advertising notifications
Windows 10 has a whole bunch of built-in ads, many of which even push pop-up notifications. You can disable all these notifications, and even all ads on your computer, by following our guide on how to remove ads in Windows 10.
Turn off notifications and work without distractions on your Windows 10 computer
Windows 10 comes with far more in-app notifications and ads than any of its predecessors. However, it also provides users with the option to change notification settings to deal with them more efficiently. Now that you know how to change notification settings to mute, turn off, block, and turn off annoying notifications in Windows 10, go ahead and make these changes to ensure a less distracting experience on your PC while working, gaming, or streaming movies. .
Once you’re done disabling notifications, you can also check out our Windows 10 tips and tricks, how to use God Mode, and how to use PowerToys on Windows 10 to get better control of your computer. Also, be sure to check out our tutorial on how to easily disable User Account Control (UAC) in Windows 10 to further avoid annoying popups and distractions on your computer.
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